Science Fiction Double Feature
by Ayala Atreides
Summary: In one universe, Ram died. But what if Flynn was a bit more aware of his User powers on the Game Grid? AU, Flynn/Ram, rated for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Hello, TRON fandom! This is a Flynn/Ram fic that laughs in the face of that part in the movie where Ram dies. :D Hey, if Flynn could use his User powers to fix that Recognizer, he probably could have used them to fix Ram, too, right? Exactly. There's no real plot here, just fluff. Tasty, tasty fluff. And if this summary made no sense to you because you have no idea who Ram is, then you need to go and watch the original 1982 TRON.

Yes, the title is a Rocky Horror Picture Show reference. DEAL WITH IT. :D I was listening to the Rocky Horror soundtrack when I started writing this. What can I say, it seemed like a good title for an 80's sci-fi slashfic.

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CHAPTER 1—USER POWER

Kevin Flynn was having a helluva day. All he'd wanted was to hack into the Encom mainframe and find proof that that Dillinger slimebag had stolen his video game concepts. Now he was actually inside the damn computer, wearing some kind of ridiculous toga-thing, with a glowing Frisbee hanging on his back. He'd met a program with Alan Bradley's face- the very same security program Alan himself had created—and Flynn was pretty sure that the actuarial program called Ram had been flirting with him earlier. And the weirdest part of all: he hadn't really minded the fact that a computer program was making eyes at him. Not that he'd admit to it or anything.

Now Flynn was standing on the bridge of a busted-up Recognizer that he'd repaired just by touching its circuits. Tron had been forced to leave the two of them behind after that tank attack, and Ram was barely conscious on the floor behind him. The circuits on his suit were a dull greenish color now, and Flynn didn't like the way they kept flickering. _Tron will probably know how to fix this,_ Flynn told himself. _Maybe he'll know where to find more of that liquid energy stuff._ He fixed his attention on the Recognizer's controls. They needed to get moving, and fast.

"All right, let's get this show on the road," he muttered. He pushed forward on the lever control at the top of the column, and the Recognizer sailed off down the corridor ahead. "Hah, now we're smokin'!" Flynn exclaimed triumphantly. He glanced back at Ram, grinning. The smile faded at the near-panicked look on the program's face.

"How can you steal a Recognizer?" Ram asked shakily.

"Hey, you okay? You don't look so good. We'll get you fixed up, hang on," Flynn told him. He was dodging the question, but he didn't care. He didn't have time to explain this whole User-powers deal to the program.

Ram, apparently, disagreed with that plan. He beckoned Flynn over, his eyes wide and fearful. "Come here," he said. Flynn stopped the Recognizer and crossed over to where he lay. Ram stretched out his hands to him, and there was nothing for it but to grasp the program's hands and kneel down next to him. Ram was staring up at him with those big eyes, like he was searching for something in Flynn's face. Some corner of Flynn's mind wondered what color his eyes would be. Here on the Grid, everyone's faces were just grey, like an old black and white movie.

Flynn found himself leaning forward, unable to look away from the injured program. He wasn't sure what was happening here, but from Ram's expression, it couldn't be anything good. The flickering in his circuits was getting worse.

Ram squeezed his colorless eyes shut. "Oh, my User," he groaned, his face scrunching up in pain. He mumbled something about Users, and then his eyes opened again and looked right at Flynn. "Are you a User?" he asked. His voice was quiet, almost reverent. Flynn nodded and smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring way. Ram gave a strained, aching laugh that broke off and turned into a grimace. His circuits were flickering between that pale green and an unhealthy shade of red now.

And that's when Flynn realized what was happening. _Oh, no…_

"Flynn?" Ram choked out. Just saying his name seemed to put a strain on Ram's processors. "Help Tron."

This wasn't just an injury. Ram was _dying_.

"No way. No way, man, we're gonna go and help him together. You and me, all right? Now just stay with me a little while—" The edges of the program's lean body were starting to fade away. "Ram, no!" Flynn lunged forward and seized him by the shoulders. Green light flared in the program's circuits beneath his hands—weakly, but definitely there.

_Wait a minute,_ he thought. He glanced around at the Recognizer's bridge. Hadn't he just put this place back together? And he'd done it through contact with the thing's circuits. _It has something to do with touch, almost like…_

"Like an energy transfer!" Flynn shouted. "That's it! I just have to transfer enough of my energy into you to patch you up." He clamped his hands down on Ram's shoulders and shut his eyes, focusing on the flow of his own energy. He forced it down his arms and through his hands, out into Ram. "Come on, come on," he muttered. He ventured a look at the program beneath him and grinned again. It was working! Ram stirred a little as greenish-blue light flowed back into his circuits.

But it wasn't working fast enough. The program's body was still derezzing, fading in and out. Flynn swore loudly. _There has to be a better way of transferring energy!_ He couldn't just sit here helplessly and watch while his friend and fellow escapee derezzed. _Think, Flynn, damn it! What can you do to speed the process up? Maybe… if I had a more direct point of contact…_

And then, absurdly, he was thinking about fairy tales. Some misguided relative had given him a book full of the stupid things when he was a kid. He'd read it out of boredom one summer while he was grounded. Wasn't it always a kiss that broke the spell? It _would_ be the easiest way to make a direct connection between them. Flynn swallowed nervously as he looked down at Ram.

He'd never kissed another guy before. (Would this even count as kissing another guy? Ram wasn't exactly human, after all.) It wasn't necessarily that he was opposed to the idea, he'd just never had much interest in trying it. _First time for everything,_ he told himself. And really, it was more like CPR than a romantic gesture, right? Sure, right. He took a deep breath, though of what he wasn't sure. Was there air on the Grid? He'd been trying not to think too hard about it.

Flynn slipped his left hand beneath Ram's head, his right hand still gripping the program's shoulder. _Could be worse,_ he thought absently as he leaned in. Ram was oddly good-looking for being a bunch of computer code in humanoid form. Flynn hesitated for just a second, his stomach doing a weird little flip-flop.

"Well, now or never," he murmured. He lifted Ram's head a little and closed the gap between them.

Right away, he felt a spark as the flow of energy started up, much stronger than before. It was… intense, to put it mildly. He felt opened up, like the boundary between himself and Ram had just blurred. He hadn't expected that. He fought the urge to pull away and break the connection.

Flynn could see the surge of green light even through his closed eyelids as his energy poured into Ram's circuits. The program twitched violently as the power came back to his systems. Flynn pressed down on his shoulder, holding him steady.

He couldn't have said how long the transfer lasted. When the light subsided, Flynn reeled back from Ram and toppled to the deck, his head spinning.

"Ram?" he called. "Talk to me, buddy. You okay?" He sat up and glanced over at Ram. The program shifted and slowly propped himself up on his elbows.

"Whuh— what… I'm still here?" he mumbled. Flynn laughed breathlessly and thumped his fist against the floor.

"It worked!" he crowed. He clambered to his feet, giddy from his success.

"Yeah, whatever it was," Ram said weakly. "I guess you really are a User—that much energy, transferred all at once?" He shook his head. "Any program trying that would've derezzed. What'd you do, anyway?" He pressed his fingertips to his mouth wonderingly.

"I dunno, it was just a simple energy transfer, man," Flynn said as lightly as he could. He definitely didn't have time to explain all that now. He bounded back to the Recognizer's controls. "Tell you what, I'll explain it all later. You just stay there and rest up, I'll steer this baby out of here. We gotta go find Tron, remember? You and me, helping him together, just like I said!"

"Right, I almost forgot. The three of us are going to take down the MCP," Ram said dryly.

"You're damn right we are. We can do this. I'm on fire today!" Flynn said. He grabbed the controls again and set the Recognizer cruising along. Everything was going to turn out just fine—with the three of them together, there was no way they could lose.


	2. Chapter 2

Yes, we're back! Longer chapter this time, and less fluff. Sorry. :P But that's okay, because this chapter involves Ram being an EPIC BADASS, aww yeah. 8D It occurred to me that we never got to see him fight in the movie. I figured he had to have been pretty good, to survive the Game Grid as long as he did. Fluff will resume in Chapter 3. Millions of thanks to my reviewers and the people who added this to their faves, and to Hahukum Konn for beta-reading this thing. PS go check out his fics if you're into The Hunger Games or Harry Potter.

Oh btw, I dunno how many of you have heard this yet, but Ram might be coming back in TRON 3! :D Words cannot express how stoked I am. Check out this blog post on DeviantART for more info and for links to articles confirming this: h t t p: / / tron-lives. deviantart. com/ blog/ 37925531/

(Take out the spaces to make the link work. I had to put them there or else FFn would eat the link.)

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CHAPTER 2—VICTORY AND LOSS

Ram smirked to himself as he stood at the controls of his very own stolen Recognizer. Flynn had run off to find Tron, but he'd procured this "ride", as he'd called it, for Ram's use. Now he was speeding along high above the solar sailer that held not only Flynn and Tron, but also Yori, Tron's mate. Their destination was none other than the Central Domain of the MCP itself.

When they got there, Ram's task would be pretty simple. He was their air support—another one of Flynn's bizarre User-world phrases. He was to keep any tanks or Recognizers away from Tron and Flynn while they tried to bring down the MCP. Ram still wasn't convinced that this was even going to work, but when he thought of the chance to live in a free system again… well, what was a risk of deresolution compared to that? Tron and Flynn both believed so strongly that they could do this that he couldn't help but believe it along with them.

And besides, now he knew Flynn was a User. Now he'd seen what Flynn could do. In the past two millicycles, the User had saved Ram from derezzing and diverted a solar sailer energy beam _by sticking his arm in it_. Either of those would've instantly derezzed any program. Oh yes, Flynn had evened the odds considerably. Ram's smirk turned into a grin.

Then his grin dimmed a little as he thought back to what had happened in the last stolen Recognizer. Was that really just a simple energy transfer, like Flynn said? Whatever it was, it'd felt pretty good. Of course, he'd been derezzing at the time, so of course an influx of energy would feel good. Although it didn't hurt that the User was very (_very_) good-looking… His right hand reached up, almost of its own will, to brush over his mouth. The Recognizer swerved sideways.

"Watch it up there, buddy!" Flynn said over his communication subroutine.

"Heh, sorry. I, uh, lost my grip on the controls for a moment," Ram replied quickly. His facial circuits glowed a little in embarrassment. He grabbed the controls again and forced himself to focus. And then, suddenly, focusing wasn't all that difficult. There below him was the Carrier, Sark's command ship, coming down a canyon on an intercept course with the sailer. "Flynn, Tron, look out!" he yelled.

Too late. The Carrier smashed into the sailer and broke it in half. The front end tumbled away and derezzed; the back half vanished into the massive command ship.

"Nooo!" Ram shouted. He went to his communication subroutine again, desperate to know if his friends had survived. _Wait—I can't draw attention to myself. Tron told me not to. If they've been captured, I can only help them from out here. So what do I do, then? _He stopped the Recognizer and pounded his fist against the side of the control column.

His two fellow conscripts would know what to do, if it was either of them in his place. Tron was a security program, he'd been created for the fight. Ram had fought alongside him in a disc battle once; he'd never seen such power and graceful efficiency of movement before. You knew just looking at him that he was good at what he did. And Flynn, well, he was a User. Of _course_ he'd know what to do.

But Ram was just an actuarial program who happened to be pretty decent at throwing a disc. What did he know about rescuing anyone?

"I'll just wait and see," he told himself. He set the Recognizer in motion again and followed the Carrier.

It didn't take long to reach the Central Domain. It sprawled out beneath the Recognizer, a vast plane of blue-grey reaching out in all directions. In the middle rose a high mesa, its grey surface riddled with jagged red lines. Red transport beams from every Domain intersected here, right in the middle of the mesa. And there at the center of it was the MCP—a massive red column stretching upwards beyond the limits of Ram's vision. Heavy security protocols surrounded its base to protect the monster's core. Ram felt a shudder of fear deep in his central processors. But he tightened his grip on the controls and kept gliding forward. He worked up his courage and dropped the Recognizer down, closer to the Carrier but still above it.

A docking module detached from the command ship then, no doubt with Sark aboard, and went cruising off towards the red column. As for the rest of the ship… "It's derezzing!" Ram cried. But then he spotted a blur of movement atop the module. Ram locked the Recognizer's visual processors onto it and zoomed in. What he saw made hope come alive again in his core subroutines: it was Tron! Ram let out a whooping laugh and punched his fists in the air.

"He made it!" Then he got even more good news as a voice came in over his communication subroutine.

"Ram, that you?" it asked.

"Flynn, you made it too! Oh, this is great!" he hollered. "Tron's alive and free, he's riding on top of that docking module. Is Yori there?"

"Yeah, she's here," Flynn said.

"Good. Tron'd be pretty mad if you let her get derezzed," Ram jibed.

"Gotcha, buddy. Go help Tron, okay? We got it covered up here."

"Are you sure, Flynn?" Ram turned the Recognizer and saw two blue and gray shapes atop what was left of the Carrier. One of them waved at him.

"Positive. Yori here knows what to do with these controls—right?" Ram heard the muffled reply in the background. "Yeah, we got it."

"Okay, if you say so. Give me a shout if you need me!" And with that, Ram turned the Recognizer and went after Tron. But by then, the MCP must've caught on to his deception. A tank rezzed up on the MCP's mesa and took aim. "Oh, Users," he muttered. He punched the lever control forward and the Recognizer raced ahead.

The tank fired a chevron and he swerved, just barely missing the projectile. It fired again and its shot went wide this time. _C'mon, almost there…_ Ram thought. The mesa loomed closer and closer on the Recognizer's visual processors. A bright streak of blue caught his eye; there was Tron, going toe-to-toe with none other than Commander Sark!

The tank fired twice more, and the second chevron hit the Recognizer's right leg. The vessel started to derezz around Ram even as it kept hurtling forward. _Just a little bit more… Here it goes!_ He gritted his teeth and jumped.

Ram tumbled through empty space with his eyes squeezed shut. His core processors thrummed with terror. _I jumped too soon!_ he thought in panic.

And then he opened his eyes just enough to see the mesa rushing up towards him. He slammed into it with a grunt and rolled, skidding over its surface. He came to rest right by the feet of a Guard. Several of them, in fact. It looked like the MCP had arranged a welcoming committee for the conscript.

"Heh." He grinned weakly up at the Guards. The nearest one raised its staff, the end sparking and glowing. Ram twisted to the side and kicked out with both feet. He hit the Guard in the knees and the program went down. He rolled and sprang upright, grabbing the staff as he went. The other three Guards raised their weapons. The downed one stood up again as a new staff rezzed up in his hands. Well, this was going to be interesting. The most opponents he'd ever taken on at once was three, and he'd very nearly been derezzed. Four-against-one was a much trickier situation. Tron had gone up against four a few times—but Ram, well, he wasn't Tron.

Except maybe… maybe just this once. His friends' lives were at stake now, not just his own. The very future of the system was at stake, in fact. So maybe, just for the next millicycle, he could be a hero like Tron was. He reached back and retrieved his disc.

The Guard to his far left moved first, striking out with his staff. Ram blocked with his stolen weapon and hurled his disc. The Guard dodged and struck again. The attack forced him back, right into the reach of another one. A second Guard slashed at Ram's side. He reeled back, saw his disc soaring towards him, reached for it—and caught it. His grasping fingers closed around its edge just in time to slice at the staff coming at him. The disc cut through the haft of the weapon, derezzing it. He threw again and this time, the disc hit its mark. The second Guard vanished in a flash of light. Ram shouted triumphantly as his disc flew back to his hand.

Now the first one came at him again. The conscript blocked and jabbed with the staff, grazing the Guard's arm with a spray of broken code. But the red-circuited program recovered and spun his weapon. He brought the glowing tip down at Ram's head. The conscript raised his own staff above his head in defense.

_CRACK! _The weapon snapped in half as the Guard's attack hit. Ram staggered, his knees nearly buckling from the force of the blow. The useless weapon clattered to the ground and derezzed. A third Guard made his move, and Ram just barely had time to spin and block the attack with his disc. He thanked the Users that identity discs weren't easily destroyed.

The remaining three had him surrounded; it was just like a three-on-one match now, but at much closer quarters. Ram gripped his disc tighter. Two of the Guards attacked, both stabbing with their staffs. He dodged the first and deflected the second, its tip glancing off of his disc with a resounding clang. The conscript raised his arm to throw, but immediately brought it back down again to fend off the third Guard.

_I can't throw my disc! They'll just impale me if I try!_ Ram thought desperately. The Guards advanced as one unit, driving him back step by step. He knew they were pushing him to the mesa's edge. They were taking their sweet time with it, too. Ram flexed his fingers around the edge of the disc. He had to try, anyway.

The one in front of him was the Guard he'd damaged. The wound crackled with energy as the code around it malfunctioned. He glanced sideways at the program to his right… then feinted right and hurled the disc as fast as he could straight ahead, at the Guard with the injured arm.

It caught the program off-balance and sliced into his abdomen. Ram lunged forward and seized the Guard's staff before it could derezz with its owner. He caught the disc again, blocked an incoming strike with the staff, and smirked at the two remaining Guards. He twirled the disc between his fingers. The programs didn't leave him much time to be smug, though. They both advanced again, staffs raised. Ram found himself pushed back again as he deflected attacks from both sides. He used his disc as a shield now, lashing out from behind it with the staff. It was no good, though—the Guards' staffs were there to meet each of his attacks.

He twisted sideways as the left-hand Guard's staff connected with his own. Ram gasped as the staff-point came within a half-pixel's width of his throat. His systems were still recovering from his near-deresolution, and his energy stores were depleting faster than normal. He needed to end this, and fast. They nearly had him to the edge of the mesa now; he could _feel _it behind him, a sheer drop of unfathomable height.

And then, as if by the grace of the Users, he got the distraction he needed. Unfortunately, it wasn't one that boded well for himself or his friends. The Guards turned suddenly, staring back towards the center of the mesa. Ram was staring, too. It would've been difficult not to, really.

Sark loomed above the mesa, rising higher and higher with each moment. The commander stood up to his full height, impossibly tall, and strode off towards the MCP's inner sanctum at the mesa's center. Tron was nowhere to be seen, but if Ram had to guess, he'd bet the security program was in that inner sanctum.

Ram gave himself a shake and tore his eyes away from the sight. He was done with these Guards. He reared his arm back and threw, well, like his life depended on it. The disc cut into the right-hand program's throat. The Guard on the left charged and Ram spun sideways, grabbed the haft of the weapon, and wrenched. The Guard stumbled past him, tripped, and rolled once—right off the mesa's edge. The program's screams echoed as he fell.

The actuarial program replaced his disc on his back and sprinted off after Tron. He leaped over the red chasms lacing the mesa's surface like they weren't even there, desperate to reach the security program. He was exhausted when he arrived, but still anxious to do whatever he could. He dashed up the slope into the MCP's inner sanctum, then skidded to a halt and shrank back from the sight that met his eyes.

There was the MCP, crimson red and terrible to look at. There were programs pinned to the walls of the sanctum, their faces contorted in pain as the Master Control absorbed their functions. In front of that all-seeing face stood Sark. And there at the program's huge feet stood Tron. The security program was in a half-crouch, disc in hand, braced and ready. Ram could just barely see his face in the flashing red light coming from the MCP; the security program's eyes blazed with a calm, cold fury. Even in the presence of the MCP, Tron stood firm. Ram's core processors filled with pride on his friend's behalf.

The pride disappeared as that massive red face looked his way. Those flat eyes locked onto the actuarial program, sending a jolt of dread racing through his circuits.

"Another rogue conscript," the MCP boomed. Its voice was totally impassive; Ram was about as threatening to the Master Control as a Bit. Tron risked a look over his shoulder, and his eyes widened in shock when he saw Ram. Sark turned his attention to Ram and took one massive step in his direction. _Oh Users, this is it,_ Ram thought, _I'm getting derezzed for sure this time!_ And then Sark stopped in his tracks and looked upward.

A blue light started shining high above them all. It fell down through the column of the MCP, right down into its base. The program had one moment to look surprised, and then its red glow turned blue. The blue light spread up, all the way up to the top of the column. The MCP started spinning wildly, like it'd lost control over its own functions. But the ring of security protocols at the program's base had _stopped_ spinning, leaving the column's core exposed.

Tron took the shot without hesitation. His blue disc streaked through the gap and lodged itself right in the core of the MCP. Ram had no idea what that blue light was all about, but one thing was clear: the MCP, the program that had enslaved this system, that had stolen him and countless other programs from their home systems, was about to be derezzed. Ram felt like his systems were frozen as he watched, fists clenched, hardly daring to hope…

The column slowed its spinning and then stopped. He could see the true face of the MCP: it was a withered, ancient thing surrounded by an outdated control chair. The word _pathetic _came to mind, in fact. The shriveled face retreated back into the control chair, and that was it. The MCP was dead. Ram glanced upward at the giant Sark; the command program stretched his arms out towards his master, and then his knees buckled. Sark derezzed as he sank to the ground.

It was over. "We win," Ram murmured, relief flooding his systems. Tron jogged over to his side and gripped his shoulder.

"Ram, are you okay?" the security program asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm great," he replied, laughing shakily. "We actually did it! We beat the MCP! _Nice_ shot, by the way," he added, grinning at his friend. "What was that light, Tron? What happened?"

"I don't know, but we should get these other programs away from here as fast as we can," Tron said grimly. The two of them set about gathering up the programs that had been pinned to the walls. They were free now that the MCP was gone. Ram recognized their long robes and thin caps—they were Tower Guardians.

Ram led them all down the slope at a run, away from the inner sanctum, while Tron brought up the rear of the group. Behind them, Ram heard the heavy protocols starting to spin and crackle with electricity.

"C'mon, let's go!" Tron shouted. The protocols' rumbling got louder and louder before—

BOOM! The explosion of the MCP shook the mesa and lit up the Domain with blinding light. The shock wave knocked the bunch of them off their feet. Ram clapped his hands over his ears as he lay on the ground, gritting his teeth. Finally, after what felt like cycles, the deafening roar and terrible shaking subsided. The silence it left behind was almost as loud as the explosion. Ram cracked his eyelids open a little, apprehensive at what he'd find. And then his eyes opened fully and he stood up slowly, mouth open in wonder.

Blue light shone on the mesa again, spreading out along each of the transport beams. It rippled outward and spread through the cracks in the mesa, turning all of the red to that same vivid blue. And it kept right on going, unstoppable now, flowing out over the plains. The whole Domain was coming alive with glorious, glowing color! It spread all the way out to the horizon, out across the entire system. It wasn't just this Domain lighting up, it was all of them. Ram and Tron glanced at each other, both grinning from ear to ear. Then Ram stooped down and held out a hand to one of the Guardians, pulling the older program upright.

"Look!" Ram exclaimed, flinging his arms wide. "The system's free again!" The Tower Guardians all clambered to their feet, murmuring in amazement.

Tron's attention was suddenly fixed above their group, and Ram immediately saw why: the remains of the partially-derezzed Carrier were drifting down towards them, with Yori beaming down at them from its edge. Ram smirked as Tron's smile grew even more; he'd never seen his fellow conscript so happy. The security program reached up to her and Yori jumped down into her mate's arms.

"We did it!" Tron said, laughing deliriously. Yori's eyes fairly glowed with joy as she gazed at her mate. Ram laughed along with him as Tron lifted Yori off her feet and spun her around. The actuarial program eagerly looked back at the Carrier, waiting for Flynn to appear and join the celebration. But he didn't; all Ram saw was the last of the Carrier as it finally derezzed. His smile faltered and unease bit at his core processors.

Then Yori did something that utterly surprised just about everyone: she pulled Tron close and pressed her lips against his. Every one of their circuits lit up, glowing fiercely. It was almost the same thing Flynn had done in the Recognizer, but it seemed more intimate, somehow. And Tron wasn't derezzing, so why would he need an energy transfer? When Yori pulled away, all Tron could do was grin at her.

"S' nice!" he breathed.

"We thought you were dead," Yori told him playfully. The two of them laughed again.

"Where's Flynn?" Tron asked, glancing from side to side.

"It was incredible!" Yori gushed. "He threw himself into the beam and distracted the MCP just long enough for you to get the disc in." The words hit Ram like a blow from a disc. Flynn threw himself into the core of the MCP? "He saved us, he really did it!" Behind them, the Guardian called Dumont spoke up.

"Video warriors," he said with gruff affection. "Look at the I/O Towers! Every Tower is lighting up." The three of them walked to the edge of the mesa to watch, but Ram stayed where he was.

"Wait, so… Flynn's gone?" he asked quietly. Tron and Yori looked back at him and exchanged sober glances.

"I'm afraid so. If contact with the MCP's core didn't derezz him, then the blast may have sent him back to the User world," Tron said solemnly. Ram nodded stiffly as the weight of the news settled over him.

_Flynn is gone. _


	3. Chapter 3

Alan and Lora in this chapter! They are the best nerds ever. Also, the fluff returns!

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CHAPTER 3—BACK TO REALITY

And just like that, _bam_, Kevin Flynn was back in Encom's laser lab. He threw out his hands, catching himself on the edge of the desk as he fell forward in his chair. He looked around in a daze, feeling like he'd just woken up from the world's strangest dream. Maybe he had. But it wasn't a dream, was it? It couldn't be. There's no way he could have dreamed Tron, or Yori… or Ram, for that matter. No way.

The buzzing of the printer next to the computer caught his attention. He plucked the sheet of paper from the printer once it was done.

"Uh huh, uh huh," he muttered as he skimmed over it. Then he grinned. "Priority One!" he exclaimed, laughing breathlessly. He leaped up from the chair with a whoop and dashed for the laser bay door, cackling madly all the way to the elevator. "Dillinger, you slimy bastard, I got you now!"

He fidgeted like a little kid on five cups of coffee all the way up to Alan's cubicle. He kept looking down at the paper clutched in his fist, like it might disappear if he ignored it for too long.

Was it a dream, though? The clock on the wall next to the elevator had told him that he'd only been gone for less than ten minutes. He must have fallen asleep at the computer. But how'd he manage to dig up a Priority One document? The MCP had caught him before he'd gotten that far into the system. And there was one more problem with the sleep idea—Flynn never remembered his dreams. And when he did, all he got were bits and pieces.

But he remembered everything that had happened on the Grid. He remembered the colors, the sounds, the glow of the circuitry. He remembered the intensity of Tron's stare and the loveliness of Yori's smile. He remembered the hate in Sark's voice and the cold contempt in the MCP's. And he remembered the rush of the energy transfer, and the weird, electrical warmth of Ram's mouth. He hadn't really noticed that at the time, as he'd been pretty busy. But he noticed it now, looking back on it.

Alan and Lora jumped like scared rabbits when he burst into the cubicle, beaming from ear to ear.

"Damn it, Flynn, don't do that!" Alan scolded him. "We heard footsteps running this way and thought it was security coming to arrest us."

Flynn just laughed and leaned against the cubicle doorway. "Alan, Lora, you will _not believe_ where I've been."

"You mean the laser lab? I think I can believe that, since I put you there myself," Lora said dryly.

"Hold on," Alan interrupted. "This isn't… something just happened. Master Control is _gone_."

"What? Are you sure?" Lora asked, frowning.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure," Alan said. He stared in disbelief at the screen. "What just happened? I have my access back, Tron is online again… Flynn, how on earth did you do it that fast?"

Flynn chuckled and set a hand on Alan's shoulder. "Let me tell you a little story about Tron…"

* * *

Half an hour later, Alan and Lora were thoroughly convinced that their colleague had gone insane. Alan pinched the bridge of his nose, bumping his glasses upward.

"So what you're telling us," he said slowly, "Is that The Master Control Program used Lora's laser to… _zap_ you inside the Encom mainframe. You were forced to fight humanoid computer programs in Roman-style gladiator games, and then you, Tron, and an actuarial program—"

"Ram," Flynn interjected helpfully.

"Right. You, Tron, and Ram fought the Master Control Program in a battle to the death. You jumped inside the MCP to distract it so Tron could kill it with a flying disc, and you then rode the blast from its destruction all the way back to our world."

"Yeah-huh, that about sums it up," Flynn agreed. He didn't look the least bit disturbed by any of this, which hardly seemed fair.

"Flynn, that's absurd!" Lora exclaimed, exasperated. "People can't be zapped into computers!"

"Why not? You and Gibbs have been zapping oranges into computers for weeks," Flynn pointed out.

"_Oranges_, Kevin! The laser is nowhere near ready for human testing yet."

"Well, it looks like it's ready now." Flynn smiled that maddening smile of his. He relented, though, at the looks on their faces. "Okay, I know it sounds nuts. But I bet there's some kind of proof in the system—there has to be some trace of the MCP activating the laser." He glanced at the windows across the room. "It's late. Why don't we all go home, and tomorrow after closing, you both come down to the laser lab with me. Okay?"

"Flynn, we are not indulging this scheme of yours—" Alan started.

"_Please._ Lora, Alan, please just come down there tomorrow. Do this one thing for me, okay?" Flynn insisted. The smile was gone. He was deadly serious about this. Alan exchanged a look with Lora, both surprised by their colleague's sudden change of attitude.

"Okay, Kevin," Lora said. "We'll be there."

* * *

It almost felt weird, coming back to the arcade. Flynn hadn't been sure he'd ever see it again. He walked in through the front door, instead of going in through the back like he normally did after hours. He had an urge to walk the arcade floor. It was dark and silent, the last of his employees having gone home hours ago. The room felt bigger than usual, the silence stronger.

He paused by the Space Paranoids cabinet, taking a minute to stare at the Recognizers decorating its panels. The Light Cycles machine caught his eye next. He wandered from one cabinet to the next before finally hauling himself up the stairs to his tiny little apartment-office. It was just as messy as he'd left it. He went to the bathroom, splashed some warm water on his face, and then collapsed face-first onto the bed, not even bothering to get undressed.

Flynn's dreams were of glowing discs and lightcycles and heroic programs that night. When he woke up, he forgot them all.

* * *

Encom was in chaos the next day. Dillinger was gone—nobody knew where he was, and at this point, that was probably for the best. His scam had been exposed, and there were lots of Encom employees who had a bone to pick with Dillinger about the MCP.

They called Flynn at around noon, begging him to come back and take back his job there. He agreed, but only because he needed to be there anyway. He would've liked to make them sweat a little before agreeing, but he wanted access to that laser even more.

Even with all of their employees going full-tilt, the pile of things that needed doing never seemed to lessen. Damn near everyone was working overtime. It was 9:30 at night before the building started to empty out and Flynn could steal away to the now-deserted laser lab.

It was another ten minutes before Alan and Lora showed up, but to Flynn, it felt like hours. Flynn waved away their half-hearted attempts at small talk about the state of the company and put Lora to work at the computer terminal.

"Well, Flynn, you were right about one thing," she said at last. "Master Control did activate the laser last night, about five minutes after you logged in with your forged Level 6. And… hmm. _Something_ got digitized, all right." Flynn smirked and spread his hands.

"So, Lora, think you could give me a zap with that thing?" he asked. She gaped at him.

"Right now? I don't think that's a good idea. We have no idea what kind of side effects this device might have on—"

"Yeah, well, it's a little late for that. I'm already exposed to whatever side effects there may be. And I need to get back in there and make sure everything's okay. You think things are bad out here, imagine how much of a mess it'll be on the Grid! I gotta check on Tron, make sure he's got things under control."

"Now hold on, Flynn, Tron is still my program," Alan interjected. "I can just as easily see what's happening to it from here."

"'It'," Flynn echoed disdainfully. "Hey, Alan, you oughta come with me. You could meet Tron."

"What? No, I can't—"

"C'mon, man, what's stopping you? I bet you'd be a real help down there, getting everything fixed up. Just give it a shot. Don't try to tell me you've never wondered what it'd be like in there." Alan sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"All right, I'll go," he said finally.

"Great!" Flynn cheered. "Lora, if you'd be so kind as to fire this baby up?"

"I can't believe I'm doing this," she said with a groan. But she went to the laser control terminal anyway. Flynn sat down in her spot at the computer terminal and punched in a location query for Tron. He sat back in the chair and slapped his hands together, rubbing them vigorously.

"Okay, here we go!" he crowed. He stood up and grabbed Alan's jacket sleeve, hauling him over to stand in front of the laser.

"You boys ready over there?" Lora called.

"Ready when you are!" Flynn called back. He bounced lightly on the balls of his feet. A low hum emanated through the laser bay as the device started up. It got louder and louder as a blue light glowed in the mouth of the laser's barrel, and—

"My God," Alan gasped. Flynn opened his eyes and started in surprise. Unlike before, it wasn't dark grays and reds surrounding him. This time, a staggering array of vivid colors met his eyes. Blue, green, purple, yellow, in every shade and all around him.

"Huh!" he muttered. He glanced over at Alan and grinned. The other man was staring around in open-mouthed shock. "Not bad, huh?" he said. He could tell Alan was truly and deeply impressed, because he didn't even react to Flynn's smug comment. The guy's shock doubled when he looked down and caught sight of his form-fitting Grid suit. "C'mon, quit catching flies, Bradley. Let's go find your program."

Locating Tron didn't take too long. They found him talking to a group of data recovery programs, handing out instructions. Yori was beside him, analyzing a data pad.

"Wait here for a minute, okay?" Flynn said to Alan. Then he shouted, "Tron! Yori!" The programs turned, and smiled widely when they saw their lost friend. Flynn waved them over and Tron jogged to his side, Yori close behind him. He gave the security program a brisk hug, clapping him soundly on the back. He turned to Yori and embraced her too, giving her a friendly kiss on the cheek. "Hey, how've you two been? How're things on the ol' Game Grid, huh?"

"Normal system functions are almost completely restored," Tron said proudly. "It's good to see you, Flynn! What happened to you?"

"When the MCP got destroyed, it knocked me out of the system—sent me back to my world," he said.

"Oh, good! We were worried that you'd been derezzed. Especially since you've been gone all this time," Yori said.

"What? I was only back in my world for about eighteen hours," Flynn said. He frowned. "How, uh… how long has it been here?"

"You've been gone for one hundred and twelve thousand microcycles," Yori said solemnly. Flynn whistled.

"Aw, man, I'm sorry. I didn't realize it'd be that long. I gotta get this time discrepancy figured out," he said.

"Oh, I'm not the one you should be apologizing to," Tron said lightly. "Ram was very upset after you disappeared. And even now, he's still going through his duties as though someone's slowed down his power cycles."

Flynn smiled. "So Ram's still here, huh? I thought he'd have gone back to his home system by now."

"He tried, but he couldn't access it. It looks like Master Control erased him from that system after bringing him here. He decided to stay here and help repair the damage left by the MCP. I have administrative functions, so I was able to help him rewrite some of the necessary routines in his coding."

"Great, man. Hey, I got a surprise for you, buddy." Flynn slung an arm around Tron's shoulder and led him over to where Alan stood, lurking against a wall. "Tron, meet Alan-One." Amusingly, the two of them wore identical expressions of amazement. Yori peered at the User with a mixture of astonishment and open curiosity.

"My User," Tron breathed, awestruck. He dropped into a crouch at Alan's feet and swept the disc from its plug on his back. He lifted it up with both hands, holding it out to Alan like some kind of sacred offering.

"Uh, it's okay, you don't have to… do that," Alan said awkwardly. Tron stood, but he kept his eyes averted. Flynn chuckled and patted them both on the shoulder.

"I'll let you two get caught up. I'm gonna go say hi to Ram," he said cheerily.

"Flynn!" Alan protested. But Flynn was already walking away.

* * *

Ram looked up from his data pad at the sound of footsteps behind him.

"Greetings, program!" The data pad nearly fell out of Ram's hands at the sound of the voice that spoke. It sounded just like…

"Flynn," he gasped. Ram turned around and there he was, leaning against the doorway and grinning like he'd never been gone. Joy raced through Ram's core processors and made his circuits flare brightly. "You came back!" he exclaimed. He dropped the data pad and dashed forward to fling his arms around his friend, gripping him tightly. He felt all those microcycles of worry and uncertainty vanishing from his subroutines, overwritten by this new happiness.

"Whoa, hey," Flynn laughed. "Of course I came back, buddy." The User hugged him back. Ram reluctantly let go of him after a moment and took a step back, looking him over.

"Looks like the MCP didn't damage you at all; that's good. We had no idea what'd happened to you. Tron calculated that maybe you were derezzed, but Yori and I both believed you'd gone back to the User world. I mean we really had no way of knowing, but I just _knew_ you couldn't have been derezzed," Ram said, words spilling out in a rush. "Heh, sorry, I'm overprocessing," he said, his facial circuits flaring a little.

Flynn smiled brightly, making his circuits flare even more. "Hey man, it's okay. Look, I'm real sorry about being gone so long. I came back as soon as I could. It's a madhouse up there, with the MCP and his User gone all of a sudden," Flynn said.

"So why'd you come back now?" Ram prompted, trying not to hope that he'd been part of the reason.

"Well, I had to! I needed to make sure that you and Tron and Yori were okay," Flynn insisted.

"You were worried about us?" Ram asked wonderingly.

"Sure, man. You guys are my friends," he said, smiling again. The words brought a fresh surge of warmth to Ram's circuits. Flynn checked a circuit on his bracer, and then clapped a hand on Ram's shoulder. "I gotta get going now. Yori's User is going to pull me out of the system soon. Plus, I kinda left Alan in his own with Tron back there."

Ram's eyes widened. "Alan-One is here?" he sputtered. "Can I meet him?"

"Next time, pal." Flynn patted his shoulder once more and then turned to go. _Next time._ Ram liked the sound of that.

"Hey, Flynn?" he said quickly. The User looked back at him. "It's really good to see you again."

"You too, Ram," Flynn said with a grin. And with that, he departed.

Ram smiled and retrieved his data pad. _'You guys are my friends', he said. 'Friend' is good. For now, anyway. _Ram's smile turned into a smirk.

* * *

Hahukum Konn did some calculations for me and figured out that 18 hours in our world would be roughly equal to 112,000 microcycles on the Grid. Which would be equivalent to one month. Maybe. Look, the timeline in this movie is kind of confusing, okay? :P


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry for the delay in getting this one posted. I've been hard at work on my Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfic, in addition to this one. (PS please go read it if you're into ATLA. /shameless self-promotion.)

* * *

CHAPTER FOUR—NOW HE GETS IT

Flynn returned to the Grid the next day, ignoring Lora's insistent warnings about possible side effects. She was being paranoid, really. The biggest problem he faced were the bone-crushing hugs his Program friends tended to hand out. Between Tron and Yori both hugging him on arrival, it was a wonder he survived long enough to get a status update from them. Now, Flynn enjoyed a good hug as much as anyone, but this was getting ridiculous. He made a mental note to talk to them about it later.

But the one Program who didn't greet him by crunching his ribs was Ram—and that was damned odd, given his reaction to Flynn's arrival the day before.

Today the two of them were working on data recovery. Flynn and Alan had worked out that, through some careful finagling (that was Flynn's very scientific term for it), they could actually get back some of the data that the MCP had snapped up. They might even be able to restore some of the programs he'd assimilated. The derezzed ones were probably lost for good, but there could be hope for some. It was an incredible thought: bringing back the dead, if only in digital form.

He and Ram had gone to the central domain, former home of the MCP, to work on the task. The data signatures were strongest there, Alan had found. So there they were, with their little data pads, pulling streams of coding out of the crevices in the mesa and storing them away. And Ram was being his usual sunny self, not giving away even the slightest hint that anything was amiss.

But something _felt_ amiss. Today, Ram had met him with a friendly 'Greetings, Flynn!' and a hearty clap on the shoulder. It wasn't like Flynn needed the attention, or anything. He got more than enough of it from his colleagues now that they'd heard who the _real_ creator of Space Paranoids was. But still… he'd kind of wanted that hug. Flynn liked hugs, and Ram gave good ones. Simple as that.

Flynn shot a look at the slender Program standing next to him. He was leaning up against the leg of the Recognizer they'd taken to get there, tapping away on his data pad. Flynn cleared his throat.

"So, how's life on the ol' Grid been?" he asked. Ram didn't even look up from his data pad as he answered. This new nonchalance of his was flat-out baffling to Flynn.

"Pretty standard," the actuarial Program replied calmly. "How's life in the User world been?" Flynn chuckled.

"Chaos, man. Encom's been turned totally upside-down," he said. That got a reaction. Ram's eyes widened in surprise.

"Still?" he asked incredulously. "I mean, you're all Users, I thought you'd have had your system debugged already."

Flynn snorted. "Yeah, I wish! Time discrepancy, remember? It hasn't been that long since the MCP went down out there. And besides," he added, "You'd be surprised at just how bad most Users are at, uh, 'debugging' their home system."

"But you're Users," Ram repeated, clearly confused. "You should be more efficient than us Programs."

"Sorry to disappoint you, pal," Flynn said with a wry smile.

"Hmm," Ram muttered. He licked his lips and glanced back at the data pad, clearly trying to deal with this new information about his revered Users. They continued working in silence for a while before Ram spoke up again. "Hey, speaking of your User world, I had a question for you."

"Sure, go for it," Flynn said.

"What was that energy transfer thing all about?" Flynn's fingers froze in place over the data pad.

"What, uh… why're you asking?" Flynn replied as casually as he could. He looked over at the Program, who was still leaning against the Recognizer with his eyes fixed on his work.

"Well, afterwards, you said, 'I'll explain it later'." Ram gave a one-shouldered shrug. "It's later, right? And I've seen Tron and Yori doing that mouth-press thing, even thought neither of them needed an energy transfer. I was just curious, is all."

"Okay," Flynn said slowly. This was exactly what he'd been trying not to think about. "It's like this: if you're gonna transfer large quantities of energy all at once, what's the best way to do it? Through a direct link, right? You don't want to go through a bunch of intermediate pathways, that'll take too long. I tried transferring the energy by putting my hands on your shoulders at first, but you were derezzing too fast and it was taking too long. Your armor and my gloves were in the way. So, I went for mouth-to-mouth contact." He spread his hands. "No armor to get in the way there."

"I see," Ram said with that same maddeningly aloof tone. "So why do Tron and Yori keep doing it?" Ah yes, now this was going to be the awkward part.

"Well, you see, in the User world, that's called a kiss. It's what Users do to express, uh… affection for each other. Especially couples—y'know, two people that are paired up the way Tron and Yori are."

"I see," Ram repeated, but then he frowned. "Wait, but how would Tron and Yori know about User customs?" Flynn winced; yeah, definitely awkward.

"I kinda kissed her when we were on the Carrier," he admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. He wasn't thrilled with having to tell Ram about that kiss, but he figured it was better than lying and Ram finding out the truth from Yori herself.

"Oh." Ram did a very bad job of hiding his disappointment at that. His shoulders slumped a little and his jaw tightened.

"Hey, look, it's not something I'm proud of, man—kissing Tron's girl like that! I got all caught up in the moment, and it just sort of happened." Ram nodded stiffly, and a little light bulb went off in Flynn's quick-thinking mind. Ram had no reason to get so upset about that stupid kiss…unless he was jealous.

Flynn had written off Ram's flirting in the Game Grid holding cells as an isolated incident, merely a product of the Program's loneliness from being in prison for so long. But then there was Ram's flustered reaction to Flynn's return the day before, and now all this nonsense today. The Program's weird behavior made sense all of a sudden: he'd been playing it cool, the sly little bugger, trying to get Flynn's interest. And the damnedest thing was that it had worked; Flynn had been mulling Ram's actions over and over in his head ever since his arrival earlier.

"So you have affection for Yori? Tron's not gonna be too happy about that, I bet," Ram said, trying so very hard to sound light-hearted. Yeah, it was pretty obvious: Ram had an actual crush on Flynn.

And the strangest part of all was that Flynn didn't mind. It should have been weird, right? Not only was Ram a guy, he was also a computer program. He was just strands of coding. But not here on the Grid—here he was just as much a person as Flynn himself. Still, though, it should have been weird.

"Well, yeah, I have some affection for her. She's my friend, y'know? She helped take down the MCP; she's part of the team! But I don't have the same affection for her that Tron has," Flynn explained. He bit back a smile as a thought popped into his head. If Ram was going to play games, then so could he. Flynn set his pad down, pressed to a stand, and walked over to the Program's side. "What'cha working on? Can I see?" he asked. Ram nodded and Flynn saw a faint purplish tinge spread briefly over his cheekbones. He'd seen it a couple times before and had promptly dismissed it as another one of those Program things, but now he wondered if that was like the Grid version of blushing.

Flynn sauntered closer to stand just behind the Program, fully taking advantage of his greater height to peer over Ram's shoulder at the data pad.

"Hmmmm," he muttered, drawing the sound out. He reached around Ram—taking his good sweet time with the movement, too—and lifted the data pad out of the Program's unresisting hands. Ram was holding very, very still. Flynn forced himself to hide the smug grin trying to slide its way onto his face. He hummed again, like he was pondering something, and then pushed the pad back into Ram's hands. The poor Program was so stunned that it nearly fell through his fingers. Flynn patted him on the shoulder. "Lookin' good!" he said cheerily. And with that, he strode back over to where he'd left his own pad. He glanced back and saw that the Program was still blushing. Ram obviously hadn't expected that. _Next move's yours, buddy,_ he thought smugly.

But surprisingly, things went back to normal for the rest of Flynn's stay. Well, as normal as things ever were on the Grid. Ram was back to his usual good-natured self; he seemed to have given up on playing it cool. Flynn was glad for that.

When he and Ram returned to the I/O Tower for his return trip, Tron and Yori were there to ask about their progress and to send Flynn off with two more of those squashing hugs. Ram held back, though, with a weirdly hesitant look on his face. Flynn turned to him and stretched out his arms, beckoning with his fingers.

"C'mon, how about a hug for your friend, huh?" he asked with a grin. Ram smiled shyly, and Flynn had to admit that it was kind of cute. The Program moved forward and gave Flynn a tight hug—not as tight as the other two, but still good and strong.

Yeah, it definitely should have been weird. But it really wasn't all that weird. And Flynn really wasn't bothered by how not-weird it was. And _that_ in and of itself was kinda weird. Luckily, it wasn't anything Flynn couldn't handle. After the past few days, he considered himself something of an expert on strangeness.


	5. Chapter 5

**Well this chapter was fun to write! It was also a nice break from all the angst happening in my ATLA fic, yeesh. Anyway, enjoy ze fluff!**

* * *

CHAPTER FIVE—CONNECTION

Flynn was back on the Grid the next day, and he was actually kind of nervous. Which was silly, really. Kevin Flynn was not the nervous type. Everyone knew that. He'd never been the shy type, never had stage fright, he didn't even hate public speaking like most people did. He loved being the center of attention. And yet there he was, feeling nervous as he stood there in front of the laser. There was a now-familiar hum, a burst of blue light from the aperture, and the usual prickling sensation over his skin as he got digitized.

The thing was, he had no idea what to expect this time. He'd spent the whole day, as well as the night before, mulling over the strange events of his last trip. Ram liked him as way more than a friend; that much was obvious now. He'd had some fun with it yesterday, turning Ram's little game back around on him, but he knew he couldn't keep doing that. Flynn was many things, but he wasn't cruel.

So he'd sat down and worked out exactly what the actuarial Program meant to him. Ram was a good friend, certainly. Could he ever be more than that, though?

He digitized onto the mesa in the central domain that day. He'd tried to convince Alan to come along again, but the other man said he wanted to stay behind and work on something from the laser lab terminal. He'd be keeping an eye on Flynn in case he needed help.

As Flynn appeared on the Grid, his three favorite Programs were already there and waiting for him with those fantastic hugs of theirs. Flynn couldn't help but wonder how they'd learned to do that. And that thought, combined with his musings of the past day, made him wonder just what Programs did to express deeper levels of affection for each other. The idea made his face heat up a little.

"Flynn, thank you for coming back again," Tron said warmly.

"Of course, buddy! I'd miss you guys if I didn't come back," Flynn replied breezily. "Hey, Yori, how's it going?"

"I'm doing well, Flynn," she said with a bright smile. He turned to Ram next and gave him a big grin.

"And Ram! How're you on this fine cycle?" he asked cheerily.

"I'm great, Flynn, thanks!" Ram said with an answering grin. Flynn had to admit that the Program had a fantastic smile. "Hey, I was wondering if you could work with me on this task again." _I'll bet you were,_ Flynn thought with more than a little smugness. "Tron says Alan-One found another data signature hot-spot in a nearby sector of this domain. We better be careful, though—we've gotten some reports of Grid bug outbreaks recently," the Program added.

"Sure thing," Flynn agreed. They said goodbye to Tron and Yori, promising to catch up with them later to compare their progress. And with that, they boarded one of the two Recognizers rezzed up on the mesa and took off.

With Flynn at the Recognizer controls and Ram calling out directions, they eventually found where they were going. The data signatures were in a remote sector of the domain, down a canyon that was way off the beaten track. Flynn set the Recognizer down and the two of them disembarked. Flynn let out a low whistle as he looked up at the looming walls of the canyon.

"Wow," he commented. "First time I've seen one of these from the ground!"

"Yeah," Ram agreed. "What was that noise you just made with your mouth?"

"It's called whistling. What, they don't do that here?" Flynn asked.

"No," Ram said, looking totally mystified. "It seems like you Users do a lot with your mouths, huh?" Flynn nearly choked on his own saliva.

"Guess so, yeah," he gasped out. Ram was apparently oblivious to the double entendre in what he'd said, which was terribly unfair. The Program was already tapping away happily at his data pad. Flynn shook himself mentally and got to work.

"So, um, Flynn… what exactly do you do in the User world?" Ram asked, sounding a little timid. "If you don't mind me asking," he added quickly.

Flynn laughed. "Why would I mind?" he asked. Ram shrugged sheepishly, fingers flying over his data pad as he locked in on a data signature.

"Well, some Programs say we're not meant to know the Users or their world. They think it's not our place to know," he explained.

"But not you?"

The actuarial Program smiled. "What can I say—my curiosity gets the better of me."

That got another chuckle out of Flynn. "Hey, man, curiosity's a good thing. I for one think it's great." Ram ducked his head, but not before Flynn got a glimpse of his facial circuits flaring again. He decided that he liked the look of it, and resolved to make it happen more often. "So, the User world! I'm a programmer, and so's Alan: we write code for new programs."

"Amazing," Ram murmured. He was looking at Flynn with something approaching awe, and it set off warning bells in Flynn's head. The last thing he wanted was Ram seeing him as some kind of deity. If there _was_ potential for something more between them, he figured that religious devotion might make things kind of awkward.

"But my life's a lot like yours, really," he continued hastily. "I spend time with friends, I work out, I play video games… and I have been known to read a book from time to time."

"A book?" Ram echoed. _Oh boy,_ Flynn thought. How do you explain books to someone who's never seen printed words? He fiddled with his data pad to buy some time, using it to seek out data signatures.

"Think of it as being like a database. They're usually the size of one of these datapads, or a little smaller. Instead of information stored digitally, it has words printed on sheets of… uh…" And now he had to explain paper, too, which meant he'd have to explain trees. Ram leaned over towards him slightly, raising his eyebrows. "It's printed on thin sheets of a…" He sighed and lifted a hand to run through his hair, forgetting for a moment that he was wearing usual Grid helmet. "I'll bring one with me next time," he conceded finally.

"I can't wait. It sounds fascinating," Ram said wryly. Flynn scoffed and went back to work. "What are your friends like?" the Program asked.

"Heh, let's see here. Alan's kind of a stick in the mud, but he's actually secretly fun. And then there's Lora, Yori's User. Oh man, what can I say about Lora? She's smart, pretty, and sometimes kinda scary." He chuckled at memories of Lora's wrath. It hadn't been very funny when he'd been on the business end of her sharp words, though.

"That look on your face when you talk about her—it reminds me a little of the way Tron looks at Yori," Ram said. Was that a hint of jealousy Flynn detected?

"Yeah, well, she and I used to be paired together. That's over though; it's been over for a while, actually," he said.

"Do you wish she was still paired with you?" Ram asked.

"Nah, not really. I mean, sure I miss her sometimes. But hey, everything ends eventually. It was time for both of us to move on."

"But she's paired with Alan-One now, isn't she?"

"Yep, that's right. And honestly, I think those two are gonna be together for a long time," Flynn said with a chuckle. Ram smiled.

"I'm happy for them," he said. "Is there another female that you're paired with now?" Flynn smiled at the obvious hope in the Program's voice.

"Nah," he said casually. He was good at casual. "So how about you?"

"M-me?" Ram echoed, facial circuits flaring slightly. The corner of his mouth twitched up in a nervous half-smile. "What about me?"

"What're these pair-bonds like for you Programs? I've been yapping on about my world. I think it's only fair I hear a little more about yours," Flynn said with a smile.

"Um, sure. What did you want to know about it?" Ram asked.

"Hmm… well, to start with, how do you guys show affection for each other?" Flynn asked. He'd been thinking about it before, after all. He might as well take the opportunity to satisfy his curiosity.

"Uh, well, we have—what was the word you used? We have hugs," Ram said with a grin.

"I noticed that, yeah," Flynn agreed, smirking. Then the Program dropped his chin, his facial circuits blazing.

"And, um… we have something called, uh, interfacing. It's, uh…" he paused, licking his lips. "It's a mutual exchange of energy by circuit stimulation."

"I'm guessing it feels pretty good?"

"Y-yeah." _I guess our worlds really aren't that different,_ Flynn thought in amusement. Ram shifted his weight and promptly changed the subject. "I calculate that that kissing thing will catch on pretty soon, though. I've already seen it happening between another bonded pair. They've been helping us with the data retrieval while you're offline, Flynn. I guess they saw Tron and Yori doing it," he said, his smile turning a little mischievous.

"That so?" Flynn replied. He isolated a strand of salvageable code in a crack in the canyon wall and started drawing it out and into his data pad. But before Ram could say anything else, a grinding sound resonated from the crack. The code fragment flickered and then derezzed. The two of them stared at the crack, their apprehension rising. Ten tiny, green squares rose up out of it, and then exploded out of the crevice on four jointed legs.

"Grid bugs!" Ram yelled. Dozens of the things followed, swarming out of the crevice. There had to be at least fifty now! Flynn was confused for a moment. Yori had spoken of them in worried tones on the solar sailer, but these little guys hardly seemed like a threat—

"Ow!" he cried out as one of the damn things zapped him. He clutched at his thigh where it had fired on him. More of them took aim, and now he was starting to get worried. The little purple lights on their "heads" had an almost malicious gleam.

"Flynn, watch out!" Ram cried. He crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, shoving Flynn back with one hand and whipping his disc from its socket with the other. The Program sliced at the bugs, his disc leaving a glowing blue trail as it scythed through five of the little bastards. Flynn's jaw dropped as he watched his friend fly into action. He'd known that Ram must have been a pretty proficient warrior—he'd survived two hundred microcycles on the Game Grid. But he'd never really seen the Program fight, not until now anyway. And he was pretty damn impressed by what he saw!

Ram moved through the swarm with almost superhuman reflexes—well, that made a certain amount of sense, Flynn figured. After all, Ram wasn't really human. His disc was a blue blur as it whipped through the bugs, leaving a trail of flashing lights as the bugs derezzed. But as fast as Ram moved, more of the bugs seethed from the wall to replace them. Flynn grabbed his own disc from his back and jumped into the fray next to the Program.

He wasn't nearly as good with the disc as Ram was, not having had as much practice—he was getting the hang of it, though. He hacked and slashed and hacked again, derezzing the bugs as they swarmed around his feet. The bugs zapped at him every time they got too close, but luckily it didn't have much of an effect. And each zap earned the critters a chop with his disc, cutting through them. His legs were starting to ache, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.

Ram wasn't so fortunate. From the corner of his eye, he saw Ram fall back as the bugs started surging up his lower legs. The Program cried out in pain.

"Ram!" Flynn shouted. Damn it all, he hadn't saved Ram's life just to see him taken down by a bunch of bugs! He fought his way through the swarm and started hacking at the bugs. Finally they retreated and he and Ram staggered back against the canyon's opposite wall.

They were badly outnumbered, and that didn't look to be changing anytime soon. The bugs just kept coming—but hey, at least he and Ram had the advantage of smarts, right? What they needed was a plan. The bugs couldn't strategize. They were just raw code, programmed to destroy…

_Programmed… that's it! I need Alan's programming!_ The crack in the wall, Flynn knew, was a result of damaged code. If Alan could rewrite or delete that code, the bugs' reinforcements would be cut off; then he and Ram could slice up the unlucky ones stuck outside the wall. But for that, he needed his datapad… which was currently buried under the mass of Grid bugs.

"I need my datapad," Flynn said to Ram. "I'm going in for it!"

"B-but you can't! There's too many bugs!" Ram protested.

"Hey, man, I'm a User, remember? If I survived jumping inside the MCP, I'm pretty sure I can handle some bugs." Flynn flashed a grin at Ram, who gaped at him in a mix of terror and amazement. Then he turned, hefted his disc—and waded into the swarm. He knew he'd dropped it by the crevice. All he had to do was get there.

The bugs stung at his feet and crawled up his legs, but he swatted them away with the disc. Even with all the benefits of being a User, though, he could feel the stings taking their toll. _Just a few… more… steps!_ There! He saw the screen glinting through a gap in the swarm, but then it was gone again! Bugs poured out from the crevice like a waterfall. But he'd seen where it was. He'd just have to go for it. He dove forward and plunged his arms into the swarm. The bugs zapped at him over and over, but he gritted his teeth against the pain and kept going. Finally, he felt the pad's smooth screen under his fingertips and grabbed it.

His fingers flew over its surface at a frantic pace; waiting for Alan's responses seemed to take forever.

"Flynn? Hurry up!" Ram shouted, voice filled with panic. Flynn glanced over his shoulder and saw the Program barely holding the bugs at bay. He wouldn't last much longer against them. A fresh spike of adrenaline flooded through Flynn and he turned quickly back to the screen.

"C'mon, Bradley, don't let me down now, buddy!" Flynn urged. Then, finally, a flash of light issued from the crevice. When it faded, the crack was gone! It was like disrupting an ant trail: the bugs still in the canyon scattered and went nuts. Ram sprang forward with renewed vigor and attacked the bugs. Flynn let out a triumphant whoop and joined in.

Then, as suddenly as it had started, the last bugs derezzed and the attack was over. Ram slumped against the wall, nearly giving Flynn a heart attack. But then the Program let out a weary chuckle.

"I feel like I just went a few rounds on the Game Grid," he said. He looked up at Flynn from the corner of his eye. "Don't worry, I'm not derezzing this time," he added in a slightly teasing tone. Flynn laughed breathlessly and staggered over to Ram, sliding down next to him.

"Y'know… up till now… I never really minded bugs that much," he panted, grinning weakly. "We have bugs in my world…less aggressive though… smaller, too." He held up two fingers an inch apart, then dropped his hand onto his knee. Ram slouched down further, sliding sideways so that his shoulder bumped against Flynn's.

"Your bugs sound better than ours," he commented. Flynn nodded. The slender Program seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then he dropped his head down onto Flynn's shoulder. Flynn could feel an electrical kind of warmth from the Program seeping through his armor. It felt pretty good, actually.

"That was a close call," he murmured.

"Yeah," Flynn agreed. "You okay? You look pretty worn out."

"I'll be okay. I just need to replenish my energy stores," he replied.

"Heh, good. I'd offer you some, but I don't think I have any to spare right now," Flynn said wryly. That earned him another blush from Ram. Then a thought popped into his tired mind, and he blurted it out before he'd even really thought about it. "Oh, speaking of energy—what I did in the energy transfer? That wasn't a proper kiss, really. It was sort of a… mouth-smash, heh. Just so you know. It's usually way better than that, man."

"Yeah?" Ram asked. "Huh. So what's a proper kiss like, then?" Flynn paused for a moment, and suddenly he realized something.

He'd wondered yesterday whether there was potential for something more that friendship between himself and Ram. Maybe it was time to find out. Flynn wasn't the type to delay things; he hated playing guessing games with people. What this situation needed was some good ol' Kevin Flynn directness.

So he took a moment to gather his nerve. He was suddenly anxious again, like he'd been when he first arrived. He turned to the Program, looking down at the top of his helmet. Then he lifted his hand and gently grasped Ram's chin, tilting his head upward.

"Flynn?" Ram asked quietly. "What're y—" Flynn leaned down and carefully pressed his lips to Ram's. He felt a sort of spark as their mouths touched, like an electric current almost. Ram made a low, soft sound in his throat, and his hand drifted up to lay against Flynn's cheek. The encouragement made Flynn bolder; his hand went from Ram's jaw to his waist, pulling him closer and kissing with more enthusiasm. Ram's own hand snaked around to the back of Flynn's neck, drawing him in.

Flynn pulled back after a few moments, smirking at the Program. "_That's_ how it's done," he said. Ram stared slack-jawed at him, his eyes hazy.

"Oh," he said softly. His tongue brushed over his lips. "Can we, uh…" Flynn chuckled and as quite happy to oblige Ram's unspoken request.

Well, that answered _that _question.

* * *

**This was my first attempt at writing actual romantic content! Did it work? *bites nails***


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